Coum Transmissions

COUM Transmissions was a transgressive performance art group, with roots stemming from Fluxus and the underground Mail Art scene, founded in 1967 by Genesis P-Orridge and "Jesus" Joheero. COUM expanding its members from 1970 to 1973 to include Cosey Fanni Tutti, Pinglewad, Spydee and Ray Harvey.

From 1972 onwards COUM consisted solely of Cosey Fanni Tutti and Genesis P-Orridge, until including Peter "Sleazy" Christopherson in early 1974. During it's 10 year existence, the group featured a rotating cast of other peripheral members and pushed the boundaries of art and social acceptability.

Towards the end, they developed more into a music group, appearing as Throbbing Gristle at their last performance - "Prostitution" in London's ICA, October, 1976.

COUM Transmission were always controversial with such avant garde happenings such as Copyright Breeches, COUMing of Age and Marcel Duchamp's Next Work, but this peaked with the "Prostitution" art exhibit - based around photos from Cosey's career as a model/actress for pornographic magazines and films. The "Prostitution" show was also the accepted premier of Throbbing Gristle. Tory MP Sir Nicholas Fairbairn decried the show as "a sickening outrage. Obscene. Evil. Public money is being wasted here to destroy the morality of our society. These people are the wreckers of civilization!"


The Sound Of Porridge Bubbling (2009)

A1 Welcome To The Alien Camp
A2 Real Sure Alien Brain
A3 On The Count Of Three
A4 Dogs Are Funny People
A5 It's Easy With Kesey
A6 73 Vibrant
A7 Magazine Illustration

B1 Magickal Variants
B2 Nude Supper
B3 The Sound Of Porridge Bubbling

Style: Psychedelic Rock, Avantgarde, Experimental, Spoken Word
Notes: Limited to 500 copies.

Bicoastal boutique label Dais Records --founded in 2007 by Gibby Miller in L.A. and Ryan Martin in Brooklyn -- has, in its brief history, quickly amassed (with no signs of stopping) an impressive back-catalog of instantly classic releases by artists on the obscure and dark end of the spectrum. The label’s roster of quality limited vinyl pressings includes albums by Cult of Youth and Tor Lundvall as well as the sought-after Cold Cave 12”, The Trees Grew Emotions and Died. The label has also developed a trusted working relationship with Genesis Breyer P-Orridge which has resulted in the vinyl release of Psychic TV’s recent full-length, Mr. Alien Brain vs. The Skinwalkers, and a haunting, previously unreleased 1968(!) archival recording from P-Orridge entitled Early Worm (now out of print). A third upcoming team-up between P-Orridge and Dais is another archival release, entitled The Sound of Porridge Bubbling by the infamous COUM Transmissions. Its release will mark the first time most will hear COUM Transmissions, a transgressive performance art collective and band founded, in part, by P-Orridge in 1967 (whose detailed story can be read in a 1999 illustrated biiography entitled Wreckers of Civilisation by Simon Ford). By the time Sound was recorded in 1971 its members also included Cosey Fanni-Tutti and, by 1976, eventually evolved into the seminal and forever holy/unholy Throbbing Gristle. The recordings went unreleased until now due to the rapid activity of the collective pushing them off as a priority. However, now that the seal on the vault has been cracked, further COUM archive releases via Dais are also in the works .